programme - ENOTHE

KEYNOTE SPEAKERS
PROF DR CHRIS KUIPER (University of Rotterdam)
“Lessons for Occupational Therapists Emerging from a Prison
School”
I was born in the Netherlands in Almelo on 22 July 1961. Between
1979 and 1982, I studied physics at the Technical University in
Enschede. Although I loved the philosophical and research part of
this study programme, I missed the human factor and before
graduation I switched from scientific to professional education. I
entered an occupational therapy bachelor course. After graduating
in 1986, my occupational career started in mental health, at a daycare
centre in Heerlen. I continued to work as an occupational
therapist at a long-stay treatment department of a mental health
organization in Deventer. Those were the days of discussions about
psychiatry, work and society. Discussions that moulded my thoughts
on rehabilitation.
I changed my field of attention and started to work at University
Hospital Utrecht, in the occupational therapy department. The
primary focus was on the treatment of people with rheumatoid
arthritis and hand injuries. I got involved in scientific research as
well: effectiveness of group education, coping with pain and stress
and physical well-being for people with chronic rheumatoid arthritis
and changes in sensibility patterns of patients with sympathetically
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